Ingot-mold and feeder.



B. H. HOWARD & E. J. TURNER.

INGOTMOLD AND FEEDER. APPLlCAfION FILED SEPT. I 1, I915.

1, 182,374. Patented May 9,1916.

ENKTE @TATEE PATENT FFQE.

BLOOMFIELD H. HOWARD, OF ASPINWALL, AND ERNEST J. TURNER, F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

INGOT-MOLD AND FEEDER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that-BLooMriELD H. Howann and ERNEST J. TURNER, citizens of the United States, residing at Aspinwall and Pittsburgh, respectively, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lngot-Molds and Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to molds and feeders for the manufacture of iron or steel ingots and hasfor its object to prevent or reduce to a minimum the formation of cavities, holes or seams, known as piping in the upper portion of the ingot.

A further object of the invention is to produce an ingot mold entirely plain in structure, one that can be manufactured nearly as cheaply as an ordinary standard ingot mold and at the same time produce better results than can be obtained by many of the expensive and complicated ingot molds. that have been invented from time to time. Also to produce an ingot mold that will possess sutlicient strength so that it may be. used in casting a very large number of ingots. In our experiments 138 ingots had been cast in a single mold which was still as strong apparently as in the beginning. Further to provide said ingot mold with a practical feeder, one that. can be manufactured cheaply and applied easily.

In short the general object of our invention is to produce a mold that can be manufactured cheaply, that will be practical and durable, that will be provided with a simple and inexpensive feeder of such construction that it can be applied to the mold quickly, all of'which can be adopted in the steel industry of today, without materially changing the systems in use and at the same time be the means of removing practically all piping from the product.

In our invention we prefer to'use an ingot mold with comparatively thin walls at the top and increasing in thickness in a uniform line to near the bottom. By this means the heat is radiated from the ingot progressively being greatest and most rapid at the bottom of the mold and decreasing uniformly toward the top of the mold there being no thin parts or projections to interfere.

\Yith our invention ingots can be pro- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 19116.

Application filed September 11, 1915. Serial No. 50,186.

duced homogeneous throughout, and practlcally free from segregation and piping.

The mold is made of steel and the feeder taining zigzag irons. Fig. 4 is a top viewplan in which a straight feeder is used. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the upper part of the ingot mold with feeder made so as to close space about feeder as shown by top view in Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the feeder shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows the zigzag iron used to support the feeder in proper position and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the zigzag iron made adjustable. Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view showing the walls F and F of the bore parallel.

Referring to the drawings, A is the ingot mold with walls B relatively thin at the top and increasing in thickness to a point C near the bottom. From the point C the wall B may continue to increase in thickness all the way to the bottom but we'prefer not to have v the wall B increase in thickness beyond the point C so that the ingot mold'A will rest securely in the stool D. By this construction there are no weak places anywhere in the mold and the radiation of heat will uniformly decrease from the bottom to near the top. The cavity or bore E may be made with the walls F F parallel, as shown in Fig. 9, or the diameter of the bore may increase from top to bottom or from bottom to top. In form, the mold A and its bore E we prefer to be made square with rounded corners. The mold A is fitted with any suitable lugs or ears G to which tongs, chains or other suitable means may be attached and the mold moved about or stripped from the ingot. If preferred ears H may be provided.

The feeder K is made substantially of the same shape as the cross section of the bore E. In Fig. 1 it is shown with straight walls and supported by zigzag irons which may be made solid as shown in Fig. 7 and of comparatively thin iron so that the space between the feeder K and the walls F F may be as small as possible, or adjustable zigzagirons M may be made as shown in Fig. 8 so that the depth to which the feeder IQ.- is suspended may be regulated. The hanger M is made in two parts with the end of one member bending outwardly, the

other inwardly, and held together by bolts .the'lower portion and containing recesses N through which the zigzag irons, M, may

ass. In Fig. 2 is shown a modified form of feeder K in which the upper portion is made to flare outwardly and restupon the top of the wall B at P.

The practical working of our invention a is as follows: The ingot mold A is placed on thestool D, the zigzag irons M, are put in position and the feeder K placed within the mold resting on the lower end of the hanger. The cavity E is filled with molten metal. The heavy walls at the lower portion of this ingot mold A. rapidly radiate heat and. freezing of the ingot begins at once. As the molten metal rises to higher levels the radiation is less rapid until the feeder K is filled, the refractory material of-which conserves a considerable amount of heat and keeps the upper portion of the ingot inv a molten state until the cavities formed by the contraction of the metal are filled producing a solid ingot practically free from piping and segregation, with but a small portion of the upper end to be scrapped. When the ingot is sufiiciently solid to handle, chains or tongs fastened to a crane are attached to the lugs G and the ingot mold is stripped off the ingot. There is always a very considerable amount of friction between the ingot and the. mold and it requires much force to separate them. For this reason our ingot mold is designed with no weak places or thin Walls that invariably break when subjected 'to the rough usage necessary in the steel practice.

Having thus described our invention what we desire to secure in Letters Patent is 1. A- mold having its walls relatively thin at the top and increasing in thickness toward its lower end, a feeder fitting in the mold, and an adjustable hanger for the feeder in the mold and supported by the upper end thereof, said feeder having grooves through which the hanger passes whereby the feeder will snugly fit the cav ity of the mold.

2. A feeder for ingot molds adapted to.

fit the cavity of the mold and having means to allow a hanger to pass into the mold and support the feeder from its lower end.

3. The combination with an ingot mold, of a feeder adapted to fit the cavity of the mold and a hanger engaging the upper end of the mold and the extreme lower end of the feeder. 1

' 4. The combination with an ingot mold, of a feeder adapted to fit the cavity of the mold, and an adjustable hanger engaging the upper end of the mold and the lower end of the feeder.

5. The combination with an ingot mold, of a feeder adapted to fit the cavity of the mold and having passages therein, and a hanger engaging the upper end of the mold and passing through the passages and engaging the lower end ofthe feeder and supporting the same.

6. A feeder fo'r ingot molds adapted to fit the cavity of the mold and having passages to allow hangers to pass to the lower end thereof for supporting the same within the mold. l

7. The combination with an ingot mold,

. of a feeder adapted to fit the cavity of the mold and having passages therein, and hangers within the passages having outwardly turned upper ends engaging the top of the mold and inwardly turned lower ends engaging the bottom of the feeder.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses. BLOOMFIELD H. HOWARD. ERNEST J. TURNER.

Witnesses:

.F. D. ECKER, R. M. HOWARD. 

